ACC Roundup - A Weak Wednesday
But Friday should be fun!
Better late than never and you didn’t miss much because no one covered themselves in glory Wednesday night. NC State got by Coastal Carolina 82-70, Wake Forest nearly pulled off the howler of the year but managed to slip by good ol’ South Carolina Upstate 85-50 and Cal took an eastern swing, perhaps for practice, and lost 85-69 to Vandy.
State led by two at halftime and a 10-point run right after the half was basically the margin. State did build up a 17 point lead at one point.
Jayden Taylor had 22 to lead the Pack but it wasn't a particularly inspiring outing. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had 13, mostly at the line. Dontrez Styles had 10 points and six boards.
Was Wake emotionally hung over after beating Michigan?
Maybe.
Whatever it was, the Demon Deacons were awful against Upstate and the game was in question until the closing minute. Hunter Sallis hit for 24 and Cameron Hildreth had 18, including 12-14 from the line. Just not an impressive outing. Also, Wake Forest shot just 7-26 from behind the line, continuing an unfortunate trend. Good on Davin Cosby, who hit five of those seven.
Well maybe we now know why Omaha Biliew has been struggling - he’s out for 8-10 weeks with a stress fracture.
It’s hard to get excited about Cal. Apologies to anyone in the Bay Area who cares, but it is. If it had been Arizona, well, yeah. But Cal? Basketball?
It’s just not that exciting. Maybe they’ll improve. Mark Madsen is a promising coach. Thought exercise: other than Madsen, and to an extent Big John Thompson (and perhaps now Mark Pope), how many big guys became successful college coaches?
We say perhaps Thompson because other than the Patrick Ewing era, he was good but not always great and Georgetown’s offense was always a muddle.
Anyway, playing at Vandy is weird because the benches are still under the baskets, but that’s just the deal there. They’re no great shakes either.
Andrej Stojakovic paced Cal with 17.
Vandy is mostly anonymous, but UNC/Virginia Tech transfer Tyler Nickel is there and he had eight. Devin McGlockton, formerly of BC, had 16. Vandy had 18 steals, which doesn’t augur well for Madsen’s crew.
No games on Thursday.
- Pack Takes Down Coastal Carolina, 82-70
- Second half lifts Pack to victory: 3 takeaways from NC State win over Coastal Carolina
- Jayden Taylor scores 22 and NC State tops Coastal Carolina 82-70
- Demon Deacons Remains Unbeaten with Win over USC Upstate
- Recap: Wake Forest Survives USC Upstate 85-80
- Wake Forest escapes USC Upstate after sloppy, disjointed effort, 85-80
- Cal Men’s Basketball Pounded by Vanderbilt
- Cal Melts Under Vanderbilt’s Defensive Pressure, Falls 85-69
- High-powered Vandy uses 18 steals to send Cal men to their first loss